This invention relates to a cable carriage coupled by a rope to a tensioning member for horizontal movement along a course of travel at one side and generally parallel with the course of travel of a mining machine while a pulley mounted for rotation on the carriage supports a return loop in one or more cables, all of which are located within a protective duct in a spill-plate housing. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a cable carriage employed to tension, in loop-form, a cable supported by a pulley on the carriage while one end of the cable is secured to a getting machine, particularly a drum-cutter mining machine.
It is known in the art to employ spill-plates which are mounted at the slow side onto the wall surface of a face conveyor. The side of the spill-plate facing away from the face conveyor has been provided with a trough-shaped duct which is open at its top and adapted to accommodate a cutter line cable and a water line conduit or a cable chain which surrounds these members.
A spill-plate or "side bracket" is also known in the art wherein a cutter line or cable chain is received within an internal chamber to provide sufficient space so that the line or cable chain is contained wholly within the chamber. An extension from the mining machine passes through a normally-closed slot into the interior of the spill-plate or side bracket. This extension opens out of the slot only in the region where the cutter line emerges from the slot which is situated on the working face side of the spill-plate and extends along the entire length of the spill-plate. The cutter line extends to the drum-cutting mining machine which moves along the spill-plate by its course of travel. Spill-plates or side brackets of this construction which accommodate the cutter lines and water hoses along their entire length have a low overall height which does not permit double-looping of the cutter line such as would occur due to an interruption of the winning operation with a subsequent reversal to the direction of traversing motion by the mining machine.
It is also known in the art as shown, for example, in West German Pat. Nos. 1,190,907 and 1,156,039 to provide cable carriages which are guided on the face conveyor or a guide rail of the spill-plate so as to be slideable in the longitudinal direction of the face conveyor. Such carriages support a loop in a drum-cutter line or a cable chain by means of a pulley. The carriages are connected by a rope to a reel situated at the end of the face conveyor for pulling the cable carriages toward it and, therefore, constantly maintain the cutter line or the cable under tension irrespective of the direction of travel by the getting machine which is to be supplied with electrical energy transmitted through the cable. Not only the drum-cutter line or the cable chain, but also the rope which connects the reel to the cable carriage are at least partially or even completely exposed in the area of the face conveyor and the working face of the mine. This obstructs the getting operation; represents a source of accidents and exposes, unnecessarily, the parts to possible damage. Moreover, the cable carriage which moves with a reciprocating motion along the face conveyor or on the spill-plate, always represents an obstruction to which special attention must be paid by operators since it moves in unison with the getting machine.